this morning, more than 90 million people, mostly on the east coast, are under severe storm alerts, in southern indiana, or tornado, you can see right here, ripped through neighborhoods and damaged at least 75 homes according to officials there. at least one person has been killed in the area. the storm's also leaving hundreds of thousands without power in the midwest and the south. severe thunderstorm alerts are in place with large hail and powerful winds for arkansas, louisiana, oklahoma, and texas. nearly 40 million people are also under heat alerts from arizona to alabama, with temperatures expected in the triple digits. >> we'll keep an eye on that weather. also, our top story, what happened in russia over the weekend. cnn this morning continues right now. ♪

>> a weekend of chaos and drama in russia, what we've seen is extraordinary, and i think you've seen cracks emerge that weren't there before. >> mercenaries declared a mutiny, and then called it off. in under 24 hours. >> this is something that would have had to have been planned for a significant amount of time to be executed in the manner in which it was. >> it was a visible rejection of his war policy. >> by a guy who can -- his ally. >> there's a lot we don't know precisely where prigozhin is. >> he did say that vladimir putin's reasons for invading ukraine were invalid and that's something that's going to struggle to recover from. >> growing questions about vladimir putin's leadership going forward and whether his iron grip on russia is weakening. >> this makes him more vulnerable, arguably, than at any time in his two-decade rule. >> on the streets of a major russian city residents cheered wagner fighters as they withdrew. >> a calamity for russia averted.

but at what cost and will it hold? >> those are unknowns at the moment. good monday morning, everyone, what a weekend it was. i didn't know where we would be as a world given what happened in russia come monday morning. >> fascinating thing, i'm not sure the leader of russia necessarily knew. or a lot of u.s. officials. >> that's true. >> a lot of unanswered questions still as we enter this moment. >> what does this mean for the war in ukraine. this is where we begin. >> exactly right. this morning there is growing doubts about vladimir putin's grip on power after a mercenary rebellion in russia threatened the regime. the revolt appears to be over for now, after 36 hours of chaos and confusion, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions, such as we don't know where the wagner mercenary group's leader is after abruptly ending the march on moscow. prigozhin made a deal to stand down and go into exile in belarus. these are the last images of prigozhin leaving a military

headquarters his troops seized in russia. and we haven't heard from putin after the most dramatic challenge ever to his three-year rule. he vowed to punish prigozhin for treason. >> take a live look at moscow, where life is looking like normal, light, we didn't know it was going to be this way, given what happened on saturday, the city was preparing for a siege, but the mayor says all security restrictions imposed over the weekend have now been lifted. meantime, ukrainian forces say they're making gains on the battlefield, and their counteroffensive as putin grapples with the fallout from the rebellion at home. we have live team coverage on all of these angles, matthew chance in moscow, the former cia chief of russia operations, ian bremmer and experts standing by for much analysis in the studio. matthew, beginning with you in russia, russian state media reports that the investigation into prigozhin is not over, which is notable because we were told over the weekend, part of the deal was, he would have to go to belarus, but he wouldn't be charged with anything now

that has changed. >> well, it seems to, although there's also some confusion about his fate and his whereabouts, he was meant to be going to belarus essentially in exile as part of this deal to turn back his armored column that was essentially threatening the russian capital. and the kremlin said that all charges against him and his men would be dropped. but now, the task news agency, an official state-run news agency here in russia is saying that, in fact, the charges of insurrection against yevgeny prigozhin are still under way, and still continuing. we don't know what's going to happen but obviously we're watching it closely. certainly, one way of watching what happens in this country is keeping an eye on the newspapers and state media. you can see here, looking at the camera, this is a newspaper which is a very popular newspaper in this country, and you can see there's a little

picture in the corner there of yevgeny prigozhin, the man it says behind the armed uprising. its headline says prigozhin is gone, but the problems remain, and it goes on inside, talks about how it's important for the states to maintain the monopoly on legalized violence. if it lose that is monopoly it says then the very existence of russia or the russian state is under threat. i mean, there's all sorts of opinions being expressed in the local media here. but also on television as well, state-run, we're watching current affairs shows, very prominent in this country on a sunday night, as they are in the united states, and one of them was talking about how prigozhin had essentially failed to gain the support of the army. prigozhin, it said, was not supported by the people, the people went with the president. although, of course that doesn't tally, necessarily, with all the

things that we've witnessed over the course of this incredible few days. >> all right, matthew chance -- >> from moscow. >> thanks, popsy, thanks, matthew chance, let's go ahead and talk about the key players in this weekend's rebellion. we want to talk to national security analyst chief of russia operations steve hall. steve, there are a lot of questions right now, a lot of confusion, a lot of people didn't think anything like this was possible. let's start with yevgeny prigozhin, who is he? >> sure. so, we've got a good shot of yevgeny over there. the thing that strikes me about prigozhin is the most interesting thing, he is one of the few, if any, of these players we've seen in moscow over the past couple of decades being able to make the jump from essentially an oligarch, basically the catering service for the kremlin, a bigger job than you might imagine but he was able to make the jump from being that kind of guy to basically a military war lord.

very few people in russia that done that. really unique background. >> did you expect something like this? he's been very public in his attacks of the military officials, always tried to keep the line between the military officials and president putin. were you surprised by what happened over the weekend? >> you know, not really. this has been bubbling up the last couple of months. prigozhin has had the gall of criticizing the ministry of defense, all sorts of people in the russian military structure, never putin himself because that's forboden, you don't do that in russia. but i'm kind of surprised that the intelligence services inside of russia didn't see this coming as quickly as it just suddenly popped up over the weekend. >> your sense of the explanation for prigozhin deciding to turn around 124 miles from moscow with a deal that we don't really have clarity on what it actually is yet, why? >> so, this is amazing, just that statement that you made, 120 miles from moscow. he's starting off down here. this is, you know,

rostov-on-don, he makes it all the way just past voronezh, both major cities. not only did he make it that close, that's a surprise, but there was basically no resistance. >> unimpeded. >> this is a major military base, like imagine fort bragg or something in the united states. voronezh is a good size town. there should have been deployed from moscow all sorts of defenses here, for some reason, they were not. the bigger question, why would he have stopped? >> they're controlling the military operations in ukraine, and they're castigating them to some degree. we talked about how prigozhin spent months railing on two military leaders in particular, what do we know about them? >> well, let's take a look at mr. shoigu and gerasimov here. so excuse me, this is what you have, really a contrast between two guys. you have gerasimov who's been around essentially forever, this guy has come up through the military, the closest thing that i think the russians have as a true military leader who has

come up through the ranks. you talk to american and other western senior military officials and they'll say they can talk to a guy like this, speak the same language. shoigu on the other hand has never had, this is his first military experience. you might say, okay, our secretary of defense here in the states doesn't need to be for example a military leader but shoigu really has zero experience except for his connections to putin. that's the most important thing. by the way, gerasimov is not the first guy to hold this job. they've been cycling through lots of generals. >> and shifted back over atop everything. it's a fascinating dynamic. a lot of different players. steve hall, thanks for helping us understand. poppy. we have been having, also, fascinating time listening to steve on what he's been saying, we're going to talk a lot more about that, what this all means, especially for vladimir putin. let's bring in ian bremmer, the president of the -- how three threats in our response will change the world. and with us david sanger, and

cnn senior political commentator, former republican congressman adam kinzinger. thank you for being with us. how important you think it is that nato was so in lockstep in response to this. >> well, given the fact they had no idea what was going to transpire as all of these rebel troops were heading towards moscow they did not want to create any provocation. and what we saw was nato in absolute lockstep. low level officials were in touch with russia letting them know there was no need for a high-level direct contact between the americans and the russians. also making it known that no nato troops were moving while any of this was going on. the only thing that implied a level of concern around the crisis was that american officials on the ground with the embassy were all basically on lockdown in the embassy in the diplomatic complex. that was it. know evacuation. every member of nato had the same talking points, doing their

best to ensure that nobody was blamed for interfering with what was happening domestically inside russia at this time. let the russians have their own problems. the americans are going to continue to lead in providing defense forces to the ukrainians, money to the ukrainians, that's what this is all about. >> if that is the u.s. posture, the nato posture, what is the posture for senior russian officials? >> one thing we can say is that putin has been tested as never before. we learned a couple of revealed things. one is that there were no defections among senior russian military officials, senior russian government officials, no oligarchs that suddenly came out and said we're opposed to putin. so, in that regard, not all that much has changed. on the other hand, a lot of people around russia have been jailed or assassinated for a lot less than what prigozhin has

just ostensibly gotten away with it. it's unconceivable to me that he remains a free man, not dead. >> why? that raises such an important question. why, then, in the last 36 hours has putin not ordered prigozhin's death? why is he still alive, then, and why this deal with belarus, and lukashenko? >> i think the timing was enormously problematic for putin. the he had decided to engage in a full fight with not just prigozhin, but all of the wagner forces under him in moscow, one, you don't have certainty in how the russian defenses are going to act on the ground in that sense. you also are fighting front lines against the ukrainians. they have about 11 divisions right now that are equipped and ready, in position for the counteroffensive. only about 2 1/2 have actually started seriously fighting so far. so, the russians understand that, and they'd be concerned if suddenly you've got the kadirov

troops, the others loyal to putin, peeling off and saying they're going to fight against wagner, who knows what's going to happen with the russian defense forces, if you don't cut a deal with prigozhin at this moment you have an enormous vulnerability in your defensive lines that have been holding up pretty well. >> it's a matter of time. >> i assume it's a matter of timing and that prigozhin is in a very different situation. you remember empire strikes back, when they say pray we do not alter the terms of the deal any further, i think putin is in the role of darth vader right now. >> congressman, ian makes a great point, the unity and i think align messaging you heard from not just the u.s., but nato countries throughout the course of the weekend bwas understandable. but interesting in the sense there could be opportunities for ukrainian forces, for western-backed ukrainian forces, do you think it is wise the position that the u.s. and its allies have taken thus far? >> i think at the moment. i think during this, i'll call it a crisis opportunity,

whatever, that wagner was on the march, i think the u.s. and nato was right to kind of stand back, what's the old adage, if your enemy is killing themselves, don't help them, stand back and watch, and so this was certainly good for ukraine in the long run, certainly bad for putin in the long run. i think that was right. what i'm very concerned with, and i think a good lesson to take from this is, we don't have to -- we don't have to tiptoe around vladimir putin. there's always been particularly out of the administration this idea that we can't do this one more thing because we're just going to cross vladimir putin's red line, we can't give them attack, and storm shadows close to the same thing. that's where the administration hopefully can see what transpired over this, and say look this red line that putin puts out isn't really a red line. he will advance until he hits a brick wall. in that case, and at this moment doesn't mean we introduce troops to ukraine, but it's like let's give them what they need to win and end the war in ukraine

finally. >> go ahead. >> i certainly understand why it is that we've discovered over time that the red lines we thought existed didn't really exist. on the other hand, you have to think, vladimir putin has some red lines out there. and so what have we learned this weekend? we learned this weekend, there are bigger cracks than we knew, and that is likely to make putin more paranoid than he's been, and he's been pretty high on the paranoid list so far. so he's going to be even more so now. we also know that at some point, what he really becomes dangerous is when he thinks he's really cornered. it was interesting that when president biden was at a fundraiser in new york in october, at the height of our concern about nuclear use, the first thing he said was the lesson of the cuban missile crisis is, you've got to let soviet leader then, russian leader now, have an exit ramp. and he was quite concerned about

what that was. i'm not sure that vladimir putin came out of this weekend with an exit ramp. and in some ways, while it may have been a short-term, you know, sit around, watch this happen, i'm not sure in the long run that this makes putin any less dangerous, and it might make him more dangerous. >> might make him more dangerous, yeah. >> yes, putin does have a red line, that's obvious at some point, and i think that's according to, if you read the russian military doctrine, it's invasion of russian territory. >> well, here -- >> the point is from within. >> the regime will be threatened at some point, threatened with a ukrainian victory today or in a year. i don't think anybody should be standing around saying, our best hope is for a stalemate here, our best hope is for a frozen conflict. eventually putin will be cornered, it's not going to be prigozhin, but somebody else that marches in, some military general. >> so, one thing that is more likely now, is that the ukrainians should have more

successes in their counteroffensive. so over the coming months their ability to retake more of their territory is greater than it was 36 hours ago. and that also means that the position of the americans and others to be able to promote a negotiation that makes it look like zelenskyy is not losing face, that he is being integrated into the eu, he is getting significant amounts of money for reconstruction, all of that is real. but i agree with david that an exit ramp for putin, which already was looking deeply problematic is now looking a lot harder. we learned that he doesn't really have friends. >> yeah. >> i mean, belarus, which isn't effectively sovereign. let's be clear, prigozhin is in russia right now, in terms of russian intelligence and special forces and all the rest, in chinese, when putin was facing existential threat, said virtually nothing, did not provide any support, any military support to the russians, just as they have not over the past month, kazakhstan, the russians pulled the

president's chestnuts out of the fire a year and a half ago when there was a coup in kazakhstan. he said, russian issue, we're not touching that. the tables have turned. >> can you help us understand why prigozhin turned back when he did? i think that was one of the most stunning parts of the weekend after the fact that it happened, the pace with which he said never mind. >> first of all, let's keep in mind that prigozhin, who we know has been involved in the front lines watching assassinations around some of his inner circle, i mean, feeding his troops into a meat grinder in the front lines in bakhmut the last few months, none of us are available of putting ourselves in the emotional state of being that prigozhin has been facing. so, i'm willing to say that the quality of his decision-making is perhaps not what one would otherwise expect. there's no one in a position of power that's been facing what

he's been facing the past months. he -- the decision to go into moscow felt to me like a man who truly was facing desperation. he was told by the russian government you either let your people -- force your people to sign contracts with the ministry of defense so you lose control, or you're insubordinate to the kremlin and not just the m.o.d., to put tine himself. what kind of choice is that? he decided i can't do it, not letting those people sign the contracts, he's dead man walking. at that point he throws himself and his troops against moscow, does whatever he can. when he's offered a line, when he knows that fighting moscow itself with troops that are reporting directly to putin, not part of the normal m.o.d. structure he recognizes he's going to die, his people are going to die. so he gives up. i don't think anyone knew that was going to happen a day ago. >> what was in the deal he signed? >> or didn't sign.

>> or where he is. >> we don't know where he is. we don't know where putin is. we last heard from him on saturday morning. there's some indication he may not be in the kremlin but we don't know. but, the deal is sort of interesting. because we were told it was brokered by the leader of belarus, maybe it was. but the fact of the matter is, presumably prigozhin would have wanted some guarantee that shoigu and others are -- the other military leadership are out. >> what is a guarantee for putin mean? i do believe -- >> not a lot. >> the wikipedia page for wagner right now can say liquidated. that's not going to exist. >> that's a great thing. >> that's a great thing. >> we have a lot more to talk about. wagner's rebellion in russia, sparking reaction from both present and potential leaders around the world, how the 2024 republican candidates for president are responding. that's ahead. and wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin has been exiled to belarus but it's unclear as david was noting where he actually is. we're live with more details coming up ahead.

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to note this morning, we're still actually waiting for confirmation on whether yevgeny prigozhin has arrived in belarus, where he is at all after ordering his troops to stop marching toward moscow. according to the kremlin belarusian president alexander lukashenko brokered a deal ending the short-term rebellion inside russia. as parts of that deal prigozhin is set for exile in belarus and will avoid criminal mutiny charges in russia, but so far no word on his whereabouts or the specifics of that deal. cnn's nic robertson joins us live from london this morning. a million questions about this, but the primary one is how did lukashenko help reach this deal? what do we know about what it is? >> reporter: okay, so the kremlin says that luke zen co has a 20-year history of knowing prigozhin, this two have a connection. this doesn't pass the sniff test on face value. there is no way that president putin would allow a weak neighbor who is a supply cant to him, like lukashenko, to

negotiate a deal without him having some say-so in it. prigozhin has lefrmg verage bec he's been the go-to guy for setting up business deals and support in the central african republic in mali, sudan and libya, these are lucrative. this is more than just about money and power, more than just about power in the circle around putin. this is also about money. so, shoigu, prigozhin has had something to negotiate with, his value to the kremlin on those overseas operations. that's a currency that will erode with time. but i think lukashenko's role in this has been very much at the behest of putin rather than a lone operation. >> nic, one of the things we haven't actually seen prigozhin since saturday when he seemed to be hailed as a hero as he was departing, southern russia, do we have any idea where he is, do we think he's actually going to

belarus? could he go to one of those african republics, what's your sense of things? >> i think that he would feel safer further -- the further from moscow he can get right now. he won't trust the kremlin. there are indications that the kremlin are going, reneging on their word he has some kind of amnesty out of this. that's going to be difficult for him. in belarus, easily accessible to the russian military, to russian intelligence. the value that he has with these connections and assets inside africa, that is going to erode, and he will know that. so, it's probably safer for him to get further from moscow he can. he knows that. the kremlin is reneging on its word. so, he knows he can't trust them. he knows that he's been disloyal to putin, and putin hates disloyalty. he knows his days are potentially numbered. >> yeah, nic robertson, great reporting and great context as always. thanks so much. coming up, how the 2024 republican presidential candidates are reacting to all

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the chaos in russia is making its way into the 2024 conversation here in america, some republican candidates taking issue with the biden administration's handling of what happened over the weekend, watch this. >> i think that what this may do, john, is move us closer to a resolution of this battle, because of putin's weakness that's obvious now inside his own country. >> when there's uncertainty and chaos, that's actually an opportunity. we should have been planning with our allies, and planning with the ukrainians on how to take advantage of this opportunity. >> this is an opportunity for the united states and nato to really secure a position of strength in eastern europe. >> donald trump, however, warned against cheering on upheaval in russia, writing on truth social, a big mess in russia but be careful what you wish for, next

may be far worse. back with us, adam kinzinger. >> donald trump is the who's whiny, victim, but the strongest person that's always the victim of everything and all he does is talk, he takes every crisis around the world, where we need to show unity, and he talks down the united states. he thinks because he's only in it for himself, that's it. all he cares about is himself. i see that and i'm like this is a moment when we can have healthy debates about russia and ukraine. but we shouldn't be having the former president take advantage of these moments to divide us. be careful what you wish for, our country is far worse. we don't kill people either, we're so innocent about putin. >> he said that in that interview. >> that's why i was shaking my head. it's just been -- i'm just tired of it. >> can i ask you, specifically, given your service in the armed

forces about what will hurd said, it distinguished him from the other republican canada dots who spoke on the weekend but he really on abc yesterday went after the biden administration saying you totally missed an opportunity here, secretary blinken should not go around saying it's an internal matter, you know, we're watching. do you think he's right or wrong? >> so, i like will a lot, he's a friend of mine. i think in this case he's incorrect. now, i would say on the larger policy, and russia, i think the biden administration has done a fairly good job but they need to be more aggressive. they constantly are like we can't cross this line. they do. we talked about that in the prior segment. but in terms of this moment when you have a potential coup happening, there's only downside to putting a nato or a u.s. face on the coup. from will hurd's perspective when he said we should be planning with allies, i agree with that, i'm sure there was planning for what happens if these different scenarios occur, the second we come out, we can't

support wagner, this is a terrorist organization, by the way, what side are we going to take? the second we start meddling we put a nato and american face on it, that helps vladimir putin, i like what chris christie said, he said, basically, look, this is an opportunity to, in essence, end the war here. i just don't think this was the right time at this moment for the u.s. to get involved. >> david, from the administration's perspective, i'm going to ask you who your sources actually are, and what their phone numbers are, but since we're on air right now, take us behind the scenes in terms of how they're thinking through not just this moment, but politically on ukraine, they are going to have to ask for more money soon. there is a political shift, i think, that's taken place with republicans in control of the house that they publicly have said is not going to impact how things are. what do you think is happening behind the scenes? when you talk to people do they feel that way or do they think there's problems in terms of getting more money, trying to speed up if this is an opportunity, a more expansive set of weapons systems.

>> they're a little nervous about where the money is going to come from. it comes right out of the conversation we were just having. because this week, this past week, they had a choice. they had early warning. i don't think that early. we've reported by at least wednesday they knew something was cooking. and they had to make a decision at that moment. do they support one side or not? now, they couldn't come in and support prigozhin, he's under sanction by the united states. they certainly weren't going to come in and give early warning to putin, right, so the only option that i can see would be to stay out of it and not play to the putin narrative that this is all designed by the united states and nato. and putin's going to push that narrative some more come the villainous summit, and that will be right on putin's doorstep. to your question, phil, so what the administration would like to do is move the aid to something

that looks more like the way we aid israel. we have a ten-year agreement, congress executes on it each year, it's not a political debate you hear about very much, that's the model they'd like to use. i'm not sure they're going to get that model, and i think a lot depends on how well the counteroffensive goes. but now they have a selling point. the selling point they have is, putin's weak, don't let up at this point. >> this is -- they have leverage with this, or at least an element of leverage to take in both on capitol hill and at the nato summit. guys, stay with us, there's a lot more we want to talk about, sources i'm going to try and get from him during commercial break. what does the future hold for the wagner group? and the leader yevgeny prigozhin, after leading a revolt against vladimir putin, former u.s. ambassador to the nice. john bolton will join us.

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prigozhin kept his life but lost his wagner group and he should be careful around open windows in his new soundings in belarus where he's going. >> that was former cia director

david patreas with an ominous warning for yevgeny prigozhin following his attempted revolt. all eyes now are on the kremlin and vladimir putin and what he does next. the world is asking, is putin's iron grip on power slipping? we are joined this morning by former trump national security adviser and john bolton. ambassador, we're so happy to have your perspective this morning. is this the beginning of the end for vladimir putin? >> i think that is a possibility, but i have to say, i think all of us have to avoid strenuously drawing overbroad conclusions from insufficient data. right now we have radically insufficient information about a whole host of things, starting with the coup and attempted coup, and what happened to it, and what the future holds. i have my own doubts about how serious this coup effort was, and what kind of threat it

actually posed to putin, and i have my doubts it clearly amounts to a weakening of putin's position, but whether it's fatal as some people seem to think, i have my doubts about that. we don't know enough. that's one very good reason why the white house has done very little here and that's a position they should hold to. >> you think the biden white house has handled this well, it sounds like? >> i think they've done nothing, which i think is the right thing to do. >> because there are some republicans who have been calling for them to do a lot more, will hurd among them. let me ask you this, you told our jake tapper in an interview, none of us will ever forget last your you admitted to planning coups before, you have a unique perspective on this, ambassador. why do you think prigozhin turned around? >> well, i think that's a question that we don't know the answer to, the daily telegraph in london reports that the

kremlin threatened his family, and that was enough. i think it was because the effort that he had launched was doomed. you know, people talk about how he got within 125 miles of moscow with how many wagner group troops, an infantry division, or squad, or something in between, and by the way, how much ammunition did they have? people say there wasn't really a response by the russian military, we have reports, at least, of conflict around voronezh where the wagner group itself took credit for downing several russian helicopters and a reconnaissance aerial command post which indicates there was some fighting. this struck me as a desperation effort by prigozhin to somehow keep the wagner group in operation. and i don't see it as a populous threat to putin. i don't see it as cracking the aura of putin's invincibility. give the russian people a little

bit of credit. this war against ukraine has been going on for 16 months. you think they think that putin is infallible? >> you told the kyiv post that putin's political position, yes, had deteriorated since the invasion but at that time you told them you didn't think his regime was threatened. has your position on that changed given the events of the weekend? >> well, as i say, undeniably his position has weakened, but you have to ask, who else is going to threaten it? the wagner group is a sport. it was created to give deniability to russian military operations overseas. the only reason wagner group forces are back in ukraine is that regular russian military forces have performed so poorly. is it's not like there are other warlords out there. prigozhin is not a warlord, he's a mafioso. a terrorist to boot. this is a one off.

if there's a loose screw in the mix it's prigozhin, not putin. >> on that point about why prigozhin made the decision or the deal that he allegedly has made with the kremlin to go in exile in belarus, senator marco rubio, the top republican on the senate intelligence committee tweeted essentially that would have to be because the two top military officials in russia would be ousted, that that would have had to be part of the deal for prigozhin to agree to that. do you think so? >> it is a possibility. it doesn't look like it, there have been reports, underline the word reports this morning of pictures of shoigu out with the troops, we don't know whether those pictures were taken before the events of the weekend, or after, we need to see putin in person, we need to see gerasimov and shoigu in person, but don't underestimate the possibility putin can turn this to his advantage. it's part of the authoritarian

leader playbook when you face domestic crisis or instability you divert the people's attention by pointing to an external crisis and they've got one that's ongoing as we speak in ukraine. i think that's how he points to prigozhin as a traitor, and rallies the people behind the boys in the trenches facing the ukrainian spring offensive which, according to again to reports, within the past few hours ukrainian troops have crossed to the western bank of the river around kherson. not clear whether it's a probe or a more serious operation, not clear whether it was planned before this weekend or not but that's the kind of thing to watch. the critical area here now, both for ukraine and for russia, is not what prigozhin's up to, the critical area is the battlefield. >> and the counteroffensive and what this means for all of it. ambassador bolton, thank you for getting up early. appreciate your time. >> glad to do it. >> phil. >> well, we are continuing to

follow all the latest developments out of russia but also paying attention to other news, including this just in, good news for renters, rent falling for the first time in years, we'll tell you by how much, coming up next. plus, nasa researchers just entered their new home for the next year, habitats that will simulate life on mars. we'll take you there next.

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warned not to. governor brian kemp says there is no place for hate and an anti-semitism in our state. and this morning, a bit of encouraging news for renters. rent prices are dropping for the first time in years after the u.s. median rate fell last month. in may of this year, the national mode yan asking rent was $1379. that's down 0.5% from may last year. it is the first annual rent decline in at least three years. rents have gradually come down from their peak in july of 2022, but they are still nearly 25% higher than they were in 2019. okay, favorite story of the morning. nasa begins preparing astronauts for life on mars. that's right. not the moon, but mars, by isolating four researchers in a new habitat here on earth, this is part of a new mission. they just actually closed the door and they'll send the spend the next 378 days isolated in the 1700-square-foot space called an analog in texas designed to recreate what they

might face on mars. they are taking part in simulated activities and science work. eating like astronauts and dealing with maintenance and equipment failures, as they undergo strenuous psychological testing as well as physical testing. this mission will be fold by two more with different crews. would you do it? >> let's -- i think it's like -- do you remember the movie, "biodome" with pauly shore? >> kind of. >> everyone is going to love this reference, by the way. it reminds me of that. no, i would never do that. it sounds terrible. but i respect those who do, on the grounds of science. staying on serious and very, very important news. russian state media says yevgeny prigozhin remains under investigation for inciting a, quote, armed invasion, and what that could mean for the former boss. and a mountain is turning pink and reddish, a natural phenomenon that is named

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♪ it takes two to make a thing go right ♪ ♪ it takes two to make it outta sight ♪ ♪ one, two, get loose now ♪ ♪ it takes two to make a... ♪ stay two nights and get a $ 50 best western gift card. book now at bestwestern.com. it's too soon to tell exactly where this is going to go. and i suspect that that is a moving picture and we haven't seen the last act yet. but we can say this. first of all, what we've seen is extraordinary, and i think you've seen cracks emerge that weren't there before. >> that was u.s. secretary of state, antony blinken yesterday. good morning, everyone. phil mattingly is by my side. i'm glad you are here, because what a weekend it was. >> how many unanswered questions. he makes a great point. it seems to be there are cracks, but what do those mean going forward. >> what is next for russia, for vladimir putin, the war on ukraine. the kremlin just put out new

video of vladimir putin after a mercenary rebellion threatened to topple his regime, but it is unclear when this video was shot. we'll take you live to moscow for the latest. >> and the wife and mother of two passengers killed on the "titan" submersible is speaking out. she's revealing the final moments she spent with them before the doomed expedition to see the "titanic" shipwreck. and a record-breaking blowout that caught all of my attention this weekend. the florida gators making history with 24 runs. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts now. but this is where we begin. the kremlin just put out new video of vladimir putin following that mercenary rebellion inside of russia that threatened to tom his regime. it doesn't mention anything that happened over the weekend. no mention of any name.

we haven't hrd